


Music Sounds Better With You

by MissKittyFantastico



Category: Phonogram, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: All apologies to Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, Alternate Universe - Phonogram Fusion, Astral Projection, Author's self-indulgence, Established Relationship, M/M, Mentions of David Kohl, Mentions of No Way Jose, Mentions of Shinsuke Nakamura, Phonomancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-19
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-07-25 11:11:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7530436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissKittyFantastico/pseuds/MissKittyFantastico
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Music is magic, yes, but it's a matter of finding what brings about the right kind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Music Sounds Better With You

**Author's Note:**

> While I was trying to work on the latest chapter of Sami Zayn vs. The World, I started going through the Phonogram tag on Tumblr just to reblog stuff from my favorite comic series ever. It then started to get tempting to write a Phonogram AU with Finn and Sami, but I knew it would be weird and vaguely esoteric.
> 
> My Tumblr followers are a bunch of enablers though and before I knew it...
> 
> Once again, I apologize to Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie. This all comes out of a place of love.
> 
> Also, Chapter 2 is just a Gillen-esque glossary of all the music references. Don't get your hopes up.

The ritual part of phonomancy didn’t always come easy to Finn.

He imagined for the hipstery types that occupied places like Camden or Brooklyn, it came easier. Immersed in music constantly, it was easy to latch onto and practice.

Finn wasn’t that type though. He basically chose a life derived from sideshows, where the only music was usually the song that would cue his entrance into the ring. He found ways to make that work, inscribing spells in Theban into the inside of his ring jacket and sleeves to be charged when his music hit. It was a small thing, mostly for protection and energy. He credited that for the reason his ankle wasn’t much worse after he sprained it in Nashville.

Still, it was a minor thing. Phonomancy was a part of him, but it was hard and not as easily accessible as wrestling was. He could command a crowd and be the general they needed him to be at NXT, but he wasn’t David Kohl the Goddess Killer.

(He had never met Kohl, but Kohl was _legend._ )

Finn had spent most of his years as a solitary practitioner, drawing his power from his entrance music, casting spells around the house to clean up set to hip hop, or even conjuring projections of home set to his sister’s Westlife albums. Shinsuke was one as well, of course, but they weren’t really enough to form a coven. Just enough to commiserate. Plus, Shinsuke wasn’t fond of writing in Theban, so Finn just found his own solitude in the alphabet.

NXT was a different story.

Bayley was like a reverse retromancer, if that was such a thing. Using her worship at the altar of Hayley Williams, Bayley tended to be more about using her power to spread good energy to others. For Finn, watching her work was awe-inspiring, even if it was just day to day in the Performance Center. With one earbud in, Bayley could just walk by an argument and the anger would begin to ebb away. The second her music hit? Forget it.

No Way Jose didn’t surprise him at all when he found out. That man could dance and spin a room up more than any other girl in a club could. If you looked closely when he was in the zone, his eyes would shine neon.

Sami though… Sami was on another level.

Finn was certain that Sami might be the only man keeping the God of Ska alive. Punk would always creep along and have her children like Helena, but Ska should have been dead a long time ago. Maybe he was, but Sami kept the memory of him alive, writing sigils on the bottom of his boots in chalk before he skanked out into the arena. At home, his spiral bound notebook grimoires were filled with notes in slapdash Theban and Arabic along with pictures of Fat Mike, D. Boon, Laura Jane Grace, and Tim Armstrong, among others. Sami was easily the most dedicated and powerful phonomancer Finn had ever met. “With power like this, you could be doing literally anything,” he had said one night, flipping through some of Sami’s old notebooks as they laid in bed together.

“Yeah, but I like what I’m doing now,” Sami mumbled against Finn’s collarbone. “I don’t want power. I want to change the world through art. Even though my art is violent.”

“Well don’t let the Brits hear you say that.”

Sami scoffed. “They killed Britannia. What do they know?”

So Finn tried harder. Not to get on Sami’s level because that would be nearly impossible at this rate, but to just try to fill the gaps. He wrote in his notebook more as he listened to music, sketching out his thoughts about the song, the artist and how he felt. Mostly how he felt.

Sami came up a lot, especially with words like ‘beloved’ and ‘dearest.’

Finn wrote ‘beloved’ on the inside of his sleeve the night of Sami’s last NXT touring show as he listened to ‘I Was A Teenage Anarchist.’ Not for his own protection, but Sami’s. Sami held Finn close, lips pressed against his head. “ _Habibi, habibi, habibi,_ ” he whispered. “How can I leave you?”

In Dallas a few weeks later, Finn found chalk sigils on the bottom of his own boots. “For protection,” Sami admitted later. “Set to ‘R U Mine?’”

“Always,” Finn rasped as he pushed Sami against the bed.

The next few weeks were hard, with Sami gone and Finn constantly (and sometimes inadvertently) cursing himself whenever he listened to any of the music Sami had given him. “We gotta stop meeting like this,” the vision of Sami had said to him as it occupied the open seat on the bus next to him. Finn could only give his best weak smile as he looked at that active hallucination and waited for it to dissolve. He could have just skipped the track, but why would he want to?

Joe winning the title certainly didn’t help things. No matter how hard Bayley tried to help him with her own spells, it just rolled off of him as he sunk deeper into his hole of curses and sadness. “Can you at least stop listening to those same three Black Canary songs?”

“When I feel like it,” he had muttered. Which he then followed with a quick ‘sorry’ and a hug to Bayley. He knew she meant well and was trying her best. He was just in a rough place. “Plus, they only have three songs anyway.”

Finally, Finn couldn’t take it anymore. “What do you know about astral projection?”

Sami raised an eyebrow at him during their FaceTime conversation. “Only that it’s not easy and I’m not really good at it, and I’ve been doing this shit longer than I’ve been wrestling. Why do you ask?”

Finn made a ‘hrm’ noise in his throat. “I just miss you. I’d like to be in your presence more than when you can make it home for those few hours.”

Sami bit his lip as he looked at Finn. Finally, he sighed and looked up towards the ceiling briefly. “I’ll give you my notes when I get home next, okay?”

“Thank you,” Finn sighed.

“Plus, I bet astral projection you would be way better than getting cursed again.”

“Oh, happening to you too? What was the last song?”

“‘Protect Ya Neck.’”

“Good one,” Finn cooed. “I had ‘Ruby Soho’ last time, and I was out in a gym for that one.”

“At least we’re both in musical misery,” Sami said with a rueful laugh.

A few days later, Sami handed over a notebook with “Fuck this shit” written in Theban across the front. “That bad,” Finn asked.

“I was nineteen and very frustrated,” Sami admitted, a slight blush crossing his cheeks.

Finn giggled before he put the notebook down and wrapped his arms around Sami’s neck. “C’mon… I have you now. Let’s make the most of it.”

“Say no more,” Sami grinned as they backed into his bedroom.

For the next few days, in every private moment, Finn scoured the notebook for ideas. If it was possible to fall in love with Sami more based on the frustrated writings of him at nineteen years old trying to crack the secret of astral projection, Finn was certainly doing so. “He’s just so adorable here…”

“You say that about him all the time,” Bayley muttered as she scribbled out words in colored pencils next to him on the couch around a picture of Carly Rae Jepsen.

“You tired of hearing about my boy problems yet?”

“Never,” Bayley said, looking up from her work. “I think it’s cute.”

“Yeah, well, I hope I can decipher something out of this.”

Ultimately, it took three tries.

The first time, Finn took the repeated use of ‘disassociate?’ to heart and used Clipping. as he laid out the words for the ritual on the floor of his kitchen. There was power in the music thanks to Daveed’s rising star and it certainly felt dissociating to listen to, but Finn ultimately found it hard to concentrate. “ _A headache for my troubles,_ ” he messaged to Sami along with a picture of an icepack to his head.

Sami sent back a frowny face. “ _Sorry! I told you I wasn’t good at this.”_

_“Still gonna try.”_

The second attempt went slightly better, but still no dice. Finn opted for the latest The Last Shadow Puppets record. The baroque sound was more soothing and made it easier to concentrate on what he was doing and he even felt himself pop out of his body for a second… maybe. It was hard to say. _“I think I sort of did it maybe?”_

_“Congrats! You’re about where I was.”_

_“I’m gonna figure this out.”_

Finn sighed as he put down his phone and pressed the ice pack to his head again for the second night in a row. What was the secret? Did it need to be something more cosmic like Florence or Prince? Or something more experimental? Did it need to be more wrestling themes? What was the secret?

He flipped through Sami’s notebook again, looking for something he had missed in the past several times he had read it. Nothing really, except some previously missed curses of the magical and expletive variety. Another sigh as he closed it on the back cover.

That’s when he noticed something scrawled in ballpoint pen across the back in Arabic. Quickly, he snapped a picture and sent it to Sami. _“Hey, what does this say?”_

A few minutes passed before Finn’s phone buzzed again. _“Huh. I don’t remember writing that,”_ Sami had typed. _“It says ‘music sounds better with you,’ btw. I guess someone had that Stardust song as their entrance and I just like the way the line sounded or something.”_

That’s when Finn knew he was going about it all wrong. _“You’re a genius.”_

_“Wait… huh?? What did I do?”_

_“We’ll see tomorrow.”_

Finn picked up the flashcards he had written the Theban letters on for the ritual and tore them up. If he was going to get anything done, he had to break the structure a little bit. The next day, he wrote out new flashcards. Sami’s name written in his most careful Arabic, over and over. On one though, he wrote the same words Sami had written, but in Theban. “Music sounds better with you,” he whispered as he wrote them out.

As he sketched the circle again, he laid them out and took a deep breath. This had to work, right? Third time was always the charm.

He grabbed the speaker dock for his phone and pressed play. _Searching for a Former Clarity_ by Against Me! The first album Sami had suggested to Finn before they even realized the other was a phonomancer. “This album is so great… I can’t even describe just how magical it is,” Sami had said excitedly as he handed Finn the burned CD over lunch one day.

Finn smiled at the memory as he sat down in the circle as Laura’s growl came in over ‘Miami.’ Of course Sami was the type to still share burned CDs with people. It was part of what Finn loved about Sami. He was so ridiculously old school about things, but it was from a place of sincerity. Everything he did was.

As he closed his eyes and Laura’s voice washed over him, Finn thought more of Sami. His laugh. The way he smiled over his coffee in the mornings. The weird conversations he brought up constantly. The way his hands felt against Finn’s skin. The way he’d rub his beard against Finn’s shoulder in the morning just to make him laugh as he woke up. He smiled to himself as they all came into view in his mind’s eye. “Sami…”

“Holy shit!”

Finn snapped open his eyes and nearly reeled back. He was no longer in his kitchen, but in a hotel room. He turned to see Sami sitting on the bed in his boxers, staring at him with his jaw open. “Sami!”

Sami scrambled off the bed, approaching Finn slowly. “Holy shit,” he said again, this time his voice lowered. “You did it.”

Finn looked down at himself, seeing himself glow yellow. “Oh my god, I think I did.”

Sami ran his fingers along the line of Finn’s chin. Finn could feel a slight chill run through him as Sami’s nails ran through his astral form. “How did you do it? How did you even get this far?”

“I took your advice,” Finn whispered, choking up some. “‘Music sounds better with you.’ I put on the first album you ever gave m-”

“ _Former Clarity_ ,” Sami realized. “You remembered.”

“Of course I did, Sami. How could I ever forget?”

Sami teared up a little as he got closer to Finn. “God, I wish I could kiss you right now.”

“I know, me too. Unfortunately, I think this only lasts as long as I have the album on.”

“Which song?”

“‘Justin,’ I think.”

“We have some time,” Sami said. “Come watch TV with me at least before I go to sleep?”

“Of course, love.”

“Also?”

“Yes?”

“Please warn me before you do this again.”

Finn giggled as he moved himself and sat on the bed next to Sami. “If I can pull it off again, you’ll be the first to know.”

As an episode of _Golden Girls_ faded into another one, Finn watched as Sami slowly fell asleep, his arm splayed out towards Finn. Slowly, Finn moved his hand over to Sami’s. With concentration, he placed his hand on top of Sami’s, careful not to wake him. He wish he could stay here, falling asleep to stories of St. Olaf with him, but it wasn’t that time. Not yet, anyway.

The album finished and Finn found himself opening his eyes and gasping back in his kitchen. His phone had moved into _White Crosses_ and he wanted to try the spell all over again. Just to get another forty minutes or so. However, Finn physically felt sluggish and tired to the point he just sort of fell back onto the kitchen floor instead of standing up. No headache this time, but the rest of himself was going to pay for it if he didn’t get some actual rest after this.

Still… Finn, who always had to work extra hard to make a spell work, had done something Sami couldn’t do with some trial and error. He felt proud and excited, even if under bittersweet circumstances.

“I make my way back home to you,” Laura sang.

“Not yet, Laura,” Finn responded, touching his hand to his chest as he remembered the way Sami looked at him tonight in surprise and total awe. He smiled as the warmth spread through him. “Not yet.”


	2. Glossary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To keep up with this being self-indulgent, I've also included a glossary of all the music references.

Against Me! - Punk outfit formerly based out of Gainesville, FL lead by Laura Jane Grace. Sami once wore one of their shirts in a promo with Adam Rose. 2007’s _New Wave_ is my personal favorite album by them.

Astral Projection - A really intense out of body experience. There’s a great joke about it in the newest Muppets series you forgot to watch.

Black Canary - DC Comics superheroine with the power of sonic screams. She also had her own band by the same name in a solo series by Brenden Fletcher and Annie Wu. In March 2016, Fletcher released a three song EP “by” the band Black Canary. I don’t know if Finn has actually heard it in real life, but it’s my self-indulgent fic, so he loves ‘Fish Out Of Water’ as much as I do.

Britannia - The Goddess of Britpop. Dies in the presence of David Kohl in the first volume of _Phonogram,_ but David gets credit for killing her, spurring his reputation for the rest of the series.

Camden - A very alternative and fashionable part of London. Parts of _Phonogram_ took place here, but also in Brighton and Bristol. There’s a statue of Amy Winehouse there. I hope to visit it one day.

Carly Rae Jepsen - Canadian pop singer and queen of everything. Mostly known for ‘Call Me Maybe,’ but _E•MO•TION_ is her true work of art.

Clipping. - Experimental hip-hop trio based out of Oakland lead by future EGOT winner Daveed Diggs. _CLPPNG_ and _Wriggle_ are your go-tos.

Cursing - Derived from the concept of a curse song, which is when phonomancers will see images of past lovers when hearing a particular song that reminds them of the other. Sometimes inadvertent, other times purposeful.

“Daveed’s rising star” - Direct reference to Daveed Diggs, Lead singer of Clipping. and the original Lafayette and Jefferson in _Hamilton._ He’s kind of the best. Go find the cypher he did with Lin-Manuel Miranda and Renee Elise Goldsberry and thanks me later.

David Kohl - The first _Phonogram_ protagonist. Very much Kieron Gillen’s self insert character in his twisted autobiography about his relationship with music. Didn’t really kill Britannia, but everyone believes he did and that’s what matters.

D. Boon - Guitarist and vocalist for Minutemen and often forgotten member of the 27 Club. Would probably make his own hummus.

Fat Mike - Bassist and vocalist for NOFX and bassist for Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Most of what I know about either of those is the Me First and the Gimme Gimmes’ cover of ‘I Believe I Can Fly.’

Florence - As in Florence Welch of English indie outfit Florence + The Machine. May actually be a woodland fairy, but the jury is out. ‘Kiss With A Fist’ is probably the most fitting song for your heel/face OTP.

Habibi - Arabic word for ‘my beloved.’

Hayley Williams - Lead singer of Paramore aka Bayley’s very favorite band. Known for her bright voice, her even brighter hair and bubbly stage presence. She got drawn by _Phonogram_ artist Jamie McKelvie recently for the Chvrches single ‘Bury It.’ It’s quite good.

Helena - Name for the Goddess of Pop-Punk after the My Chemical Romance song of the same name. Admittedly, this one is all me since Kieron and Jamie never really broached the topic of pop-punk.

“I make my way back home to you” - Line from the chorus of the opening/title track of _White Crosses_

‘I Was A Teenage Anarchist’ - Lead single from Against Me!’s 2010 album _White Crosses._ At the time, it was believed by some (including probaby Tim McIlrath of Rise Against) to be Laura turning away from the band’s punk-anarchist ideals, but upon later revisitation, is more of a rejection of mainstream anarchy’s misogynist and patriarchal ideals.

Laura Jane Grace - Lead singer of Florida punk outfit Against Me! and Sami’s eternal musical crush. Came out as trans in 2012 and burned her birth certificate at a show in North Carolina in 2016. General badass punk mama.

‘Music Sounds Better With You’ - 1998 house song by French outfit Stardust, though the involvement of Thomas Bangalter means it usually gets attributed to Daft Punk. It’s also the name of the final chapter of _Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour,_ so full circle with everything I’m known for.

Nashville - Where Finn injured his ankle back in February in a match against Samoa Joe. I was there. I seriously thought he was selling an injury at the end of the match until he walked out to the buses on crutches.

 _Phonogram_ \- A comic series by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie about music as magic in mid-to-late 2000s Britain. More people know their work through _Young Avengers_ and _The Wicked + The Divine_ (which are also two series I love to pieces), but like a true hipster, I think _Phonogram_ is the best of them all. Definitely read _The Singles Club._

Phonomancy - The act of using music as magic. No, like actual magic. The rules still pretty much follow paganism, but Do No Harm seems to be lost on the main protagonists of _Phonogram_ sometimes.

Prince - Do I really need to explain Prince? It’s Prince. Go watch _Purple Rain_ if you haven’t yet.

‘Protect Ya Neck’ - 1992 single from Wu-Tang Clan. Wu-Tang still ain’t nothin’ to fuck with.

‘R U Mine?’ - Lead single from the Arctic Monkeys’ 2013 album _AM_. Sexy driving track based on uncertainty. Admittedly, ‘Stop The World I Want To Get Off With You’ would have also been fitting for ritual, but the response from Finn wouldn’t have been as hot.

Retromancer - A type of phonomancer that uses nostalgia to feed off the energy of others. Bayley is the exact opposite of that.

‘Ruby Soho’ - Third single from Rancid’s 1995 album _...And Out Came the Wolves._ Probably their most well-known song, hence Finn hearing it at the gym.

 _Searching for a Former Clarity -_ 2005 record by Against Me! Often regarded as one of their best.

Ska - A genre with a deep history in Jamaica, punk, and anti-racism movements in the UK in the 70s, but is probably most remembered for the third wave which combined it with punk that makes people rag on poor Sami about it all the time. Best to go to Wikipedia for this one, kids.

Theban - Ancient alphabet often used in modern witchcraft. It’s used in _Phonogram_ a lot.

The Last Shadow Puppets - English baroque pop supergroup consisting of Alex Turner, Miles Kane, James Ford, and Zach Dawes. Miles Kane is a Finn fan like the rest of us. Everything You’ve Come To Expect is the album Finn tries to use in the astral projection ritual.

Tim Armstrong - Lead singer of Rancid and Operation Ivy and co-founder of Hellcat Records. No relation to fellow Berkley punk bro Billie Joe Armstrong.

Westlife - Irish boy band from the 90s that hit at the height of the boyband craze. Finn in real life has admitted that they’re one of his guilty pleasures.

 _ _White Crosses_ \- _ 2010 Against Me! album often maligned by their fanbase. In retrospect, it’s definitely an album about coming to grips with coming out as trans.

“You tired of hearing about my boy problems yet?” - Direct reference to Carly Rae Jepsen’s ‘Boy Problems.’ Bayley is in fact not tired of hearing about Finn’s boy problems.


End file.
